Initial Impressions of the Sony Alpha A7 mark II

Goodbye good friend =)

When the Sony A7 was initially announced, I'll admit I hated on it...a lot. I couldn't get behind the idea of a mirrorless camera that didn't have in-body image stabilization like my venerable and unbeatable Olympus OMD. Not even a year after I published why I wasn't getting an Sony Alpha A7, I bought the A7 after I had spent some time playing around with it at my local brick and mortar. To be honest, I loved that camera. Sure it did not have the fastest AF and it had a limited line native lenses, but it just fit my work flow effectively. Before I was presented with an opportunity to upgrade my A7 to an A7markII on the cheap, I had every intention of keeping the camera for a very long time. In fact, it was on my list of things to review after 1 year of ownership. When presented with the idea of paying only $300 (after selling my camera) to get a Sony A7 with improved autofocus AND in-body image stabilization, I just couldn't pass it up.

First shot with an adapted lens - a Soviet Union lens that I will review later on. Having in-body image stabilization for adapted lenses is extremely helpful. 

The moment I unboxed the A7II, I immediately noticed the weight. The difference was not significant, but it was different enough for me to notice it. How this extra heft will factor in during an 8-hour photo shoot or event, has yet to be determined. However, my subjective sense of quality has definitely risen. 

Fuji X-T1 Review - Initial Impression

Call it Gear Acquisition Syndrome, a deep love for mirrorless cameras or call it a really good deal I couldn't pass up on. I now am an owner of a Fuji X-T1. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to take his beloved Fuji off his hand as he now is part of the cool kids club - the Leica Owners' Club.

The first thing I noticed when holding the camera once again was that it shared a lot of similarities to the Olympus OMD E-M1 in size, weight and body shape, but was significantly different in operation and ergonomics. As a self proclaimed fanboy of the OMD cameras, I can't help but compare the X-T1 to what I believe is one of the best all-around stills camera out to date. While there's a lot to like about this camera, I do have a short list of things I don't really like (but can live with).  

Let's start with the buttons. While I absolutely love the shutter release button and function buttons for its tactile "clickiness", I can't understand why the main menu button and d-pad have such a drastically different feel (and not in a good way). I would liken it to the OMD  E-M5, which is the only other camera whose buttons I detested for its mushy feeling. The front and rear dials could also use an upgrade. For one, it could be less recessed in the body and a lot more "grippy". If my thumbs are slightest bit sweaty, they easily slip off the dial (the same can be said about the Exposure Compensation and Shutter Speed wheel). All of this together make changing settings without taking my eye away from the EVF somewhat difficult. Right now, that's all I can really complain about since I am using this camera strictly with old manual glass.

At the risk of turning this into a full blown review, the following is a very long list of things I like about the camera:

• It's a sexy camera. I have a thing for vintage styled bodies
• It has a nice heft to it. It doesn't feel cheap but it's the least bit heavy
• One of the best EVFs I have ever used. It even trumps my beloved Olympus OMD E-M1
• I cannot reiterate how much I love the shutter release button. It has a defined click to it that I wish my other bodies would use
• No need for menu diving. All the necessary controls are linked  or link-able to a function button and/or a dial. 
• The JPEGs are actually very impressive. I still believe in the power of raw, but you can get away with shooting JPEG for non-professional work
• Does a great job handling the old lenses in my arsenal. While it cannot touch the Sony A7, it does a lot better resolving images than the OMD E-M1
• The focus assist features are among the best I have used in the mirrorless world. I particularly like the split screen feature.   
• Live view is very accurate
• High fun factor

I decided to take the X-T1 with me every where I went during my Thanksgiving weekend with the intent to shoot, share and not process any of the JPEG files coming out of this camera. Reviewers all over the interwebs have been praising Fuji for its JPEG processing powers and I must say, it passes and exceeds my standards, for whatever that's worth. The following shots are all straight out of the camera with +1 sharpening applied globally. 

Shots taken with the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 m mount lens

(all shots were taken wide open or close to it)

B&W with Yellow Filter - Low light test: ISO 3200 @ 1/100 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 200 @1/500 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 200 @1/180 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 200 @1/180 sec

Shots taken with the Olympus OM 50mm f/1.4

(all shots were taken wide open or close to it)

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 800 @1/80 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 200 @1/1000 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 640 @1/60 sec

B&W with Yellow Filter - ISO 800 @1/60 sec

I saw this sunset and knew I had to take it in color. Velvia Film Setting - ISO 200 @ 1/125 sec

While this camera may not be the first one I reach for all the time, I must say I've had a lot of fun using it especially for purely B&W photos. It's not perfect and I could think of a number of things it could improve on (notably the flash sync speed of 1/180th sec). Besides pure curiosity, part of the reason I decided to buy this camera off my friend is because this body with the 56mm f/1.2 is still cheaper than the micro four thirds Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 lens, which both have a very similar field of view. Like all of my gear, you can bet I will have a more extensive review once I have spent more time with the camera and added a native lens to the mix. Next on my agenda is studio work. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what this camera can produce under more controlled settings. I hope you found this helpful and thanks for stopping by.

Initial Impression Review - Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens

Update: To see more photos taken with this lens, see the following blog post(s): DAY & NIGHT

Not too long ago, I dove into the deep end and purchased my first mirrorless full frame camera, the Sony Alpha A7. Spoiler Alert! I am extremely happy with the camera and I am happy I waited as long as I did to upgrade for the price alone. I have owned a handful of telephoto zooms in the 70-200 range and noticed (and documented in prior posts) that adapted lenses with AF tend to have unpredictable performance. While I loved adapting the Olympus 50-200mm four thirds lens to my E-M1, I noticed it would hunt in low-light conditions or sometimes back/front focus (a common but easily fixable problem with phase detect AF systems). I decided that moving forward, I would invest only in native AF glass for both my Sony and M43 cameras with exception to vintage and manual focus only lenses. So with the purchase of the A7, I also bought the Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens. This is similar to purchasing a 35-100mm f/2 lens for a M43 camera in field of view and depth of field (not light gathering) respectively. 

My first in studio shot using this lens and I am extremely happy with the focus accuracy and image quality

Although I like to do a more extensive review after using any photographic equipment for longer than 6 months, I think this lens warrants at least a small write up. I've been asked by a handful of people what I think about this zoom and whether or not I would recommend it. It is always hard to answer this question without getting to know what kind of photographer you are, so hopefully this semi-short initial impressions review will help you decide whether or not you want to spend $1,500 on this lens. Short answer is it fits perfectly in my collection and is here to stay. 

My Experience with Four Thirds Glass: 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko EZ Zoom and the 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 ED Zuiko Zoom

Blowing a kiss to my brand new lens

When I purchased the Olympus OMD E-M1, I was given the option to purchase the Olympus MMF-3 weather sealed adapter and receive a mail in rebate for the full cost of the adapter.  If I didn't already have the FL-600r, I would have taken advantage of the free with rebate FL-300 flash. I originally neglected the adapter thinking I would never use this thing, let alone an "old" Olympus four thirds lens, until I found myself a very inexpensive one on ebay.  I made an offer of $40 thinking it would be rejected, but to my surprise it was accepted with free shipping. The 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko EZ zoom came right in time for a special event at my buddy's Crossfit gym so I decided to give this lens a whirl.

Some of Crossfit Nerd's super friends

I usually shoot in manual, single auto focus mode, but I didn't want to worry about too many factors given I was working with a new-to-me lens.  I locked the camera in Aperture Priority mode and stopped the lens down to around f5.6 (I wanted to really test the sharpness of the lens, so I stopped it down a bit).  An important thing to note about these four thirds glass is that they are optimized to work on phase detect auto focus system cameras unlike my original OMD E-M5, which has contrast detect. The OMD E-M1 has a hybrid sensor that has both phase detect and contrast detect (native to the Micro Four Thirds) pixels. Unlike what I am used to, most of the phase detect pixels reside within the center of the sensor, so all the focus points are within the middle of the frame.  I found a brief description on dpreview regarding the differences between the two and it's summarized below:

"Contrast-detect autofocus uses the image sensor and tells the camera to keep changing focus until the contrast from one pixel to the next is the highest possible"

"Phase-detect autofocus uses a completely different sensor that splits the light into two images and focuses until the two images come together on the focus sensor ... it can measure how far apart the 2 images are and knows which direction to focus."

Godox Ving V850 and the Godox AD-360 Barebulb Flash (Cheetah Lights) - Initial Impression

My first day with the V850s

I must admit when I first started out with photography, I was afraid of flash because a) it really seemed complicated to use b) the first speedlight I had was confusing as heck to operate and c) I didn't have a grasp of the exposure triangle.  I think the biggest deterrent for me was the fact that my first flash, an all manual Sunpak auto 422 Thyristor, had all these sliders that made no sense to me.  The unit was not user friendly.   Fast forward several years, I opted to get the Olympus fl-600r for its TTL (through the lens) metering. For those who are not aware, it's like setting your flash to auto mode where the flash determines the output strength through a pre-flash and/or from the camera's metering system.  As I have mentioned in my previous post, I obsess over understanding how to use things manually and having something other than my brain determine the settings bugged me beyond all recognition.   So you guessed it, I shot adjusting the power myself.  After spending a couple of years with the flash, I can say that it is a great tool with some shortcomings. See below for a list of my personal pros and cons of the Olympus fl-600r:

Pro:
1. Compact - a great complement to my OMD E-M5 and currently the E-M1
2. Has TTL and TTL-FP mode (essentially high speed sync)
3. Built very well and feels like a quality product
4. Great Slave mode for studio work (Still has TTL mode when set off by another flash)
5. Ability to control the power from the camera
6. Syncs perfectly with the E-M1 at 1/250th of a second in manaul mode and 1/200th of a second in TTL

Cons:
1. Optical Slave does not work well in bright sunny days
2. Abysmal recharge rate from half to full power.  This gets worse as the battery start to drain
3. True guide number in the mid 30s at ISO 100.
4. Takes AA batteries.  OH How I HATE AA BATTERIES 

From Left to Right - The Godox AD-360, Godox Ving V850,
Olympus fl-600r and my first flash, the Sunpak auto 422 Thyristor